“Shodo”  The Art of Japanese Calligraphy

Japanese calligraphy was influenced by, and influenced, Zen thought. For any particular piece of paper, the calligrapher has but one chance to create with the brush. The brush strokes cannot be corrected, and even a lack of confidence shows up in the work. The calligrapher must concentrate and be fluid in execution. The brush writes a statement about the calligrapher at a moment in time (see Hitsuzendō, the Zen way of the brush). Through Zen, Japanese calligraphy absorbed a distinct Japanese aesthetic often symbolized by the ensō or circle of enlightenment.

Zen calligraphy is practiced by Buddhist monks and most shodō practitioners. To write Zen calligraphy with mastery, one must clear one’s mind and let the letters flow out of themselves, not practice and make a tremendous effort. This state of mind was called the mushin (無心 “no mind state”?) by the Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitaro. It is based on the principles of Zen Buddhism, which stresses a connection to the spiritual rather than the physical.

Before Japanese tea ceremonies (which are connected to Zen Buddhism), one is to look at a work of shodō to clear one’s mind. This is considered an essential step in the preparation for a tea ceremony.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           -Kikuro

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“Calligraphy exalts the visual beauty of the ideograms.  In the practice of this art, the calligrapher seeks to rediscover the rhythm of his deepest being, and to enter into communion with the elements. Through the signifying strokes, he may completely surrender himself. Their thickness and their slenderness, their contrasting and balancing relationships, permit him to express the multiple aspects of his own sensibility: forcefulness and tenderness, abandon and quietude, tension and harmony. In the accomplishment of the unity of each character and in the balance among them, the calligrapher, even in the act of expressing things, achieve; his own unity. “

                                                                                                                                      -Francois Cheng